Should Tennessee be expecting a de-commitment from 4-star safety Trey Dean soon?

Tennessee is looking to recapture its glory from the 1990s. Join us daily at SEC Country for the latest Tennessee recruiting news and notes on the next crop of Volunteers. Check out previous editions here. In this edition, we discuss Tennessee commit Trey Dean and the latest in his recruitment.

Trey Dean update

I’ve said in this space since the Butch Jones firing that I thought Tennessee was ultimately going to lose a commitment from safety Trey Dean. It looks like that notion has picked up speed the last few weeks.

Dean took an official visit to Alabama last weekend. The Crimson Tide were thought to be the leaders in the clubhouse in August before Dean’s somewhat surprising commitment to Tennessee. Alabama is enticing to any defensive back who wants to make it the NFL. Tennessee, meanwhile, would potentially give Dean a chance to play early. The Vols secondary wasn’t great last season and will lose three corners from the roster. Dean could find a way on to the field.

SEC Country’s Zach Abolverdi has learned Dean will take an official visit to Florida this weekend. Abolverdi said Dean strongly considered Florida until the departure of defensive back coach Torrian Gray. Dean’s Tennessee recruiter was defensive backs coach Charlton Warren, who likely won’t be retained heading into next season, either.

Florida could be benefiting from a staff change. Coach Dan Mullen has been hitting the recruiting trail hard and looks to be gaining ground on Dean.

Dean also plans to take an official visit to Kentucky the Dec. 15 weekend. The Wildcats made an in-home visit to Dean last week.

Nebraska is the latest to jump into the mix with Dean. The Cornhuskers hired their new coach, Scott Frost, on Saturday, and he immediately hit the ground running in recruiting. There isn’t time left for Dean to take an official visit to Nebraska, though. I doubt Dean, from Hampton, Ga., would go that far from home for his college decision, but he seems open to the idea at least.

What the last two weeks have shown is Dean isn’t very sold on Tennessee. It’s difficult to blame him. The Vols haven’t developed NFL talent at safety in a long time. And the coaching search has turned into a national embarrassment without an end in sight yet.

Dean will enroll early and the early signing period begins in 15 days. The new coaching staff will be playing catch-up with potential targets. It appears it will be doing the same with Dean.

Dean rates as a 4-star prospect and ranks as the No. 22 safety in the Class of 2018, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. There’s clearly plenty of teams competing for his services next season, Tennessee falls further behind each day.

Tennessee is in desperate need of offensive line depth. The Vols were forced to play a walk-on this season in SEC play because of injuries and attrition on the O-line.

The Vols currently have two commits on the line for 2018 in Tanner Antonutti and Ollie Lane — and neither looks to be going anywhere. The new coaching staff will likely have to bring on four or maybe five prospects this cycle, though.

Jerome Carvin from Cordova, Tenn., is a prospect the previous regime targeted and put a lot of time into recruiting. He is one of the better offensive line prospects in the state this cycle. It makes sense the new staff will try to build on the previous relationship and familiarity with the school.

It might already be too late, though. Carvin was trending toward Mississippi State the past two months. His affection looks to have been strongly tied to the coaching staff and not the program.

Florida has quickly risen with Carvin since Mullen took the job. I would say he looks like he’ll be a Gator at this point in his recruitment.

If the new coaching staff doesn’t have a few leads on some offensive linemen then it will likely be the weakest position group heading into next season.